Evolution of Teaching Methods

Ancient education

About 3000 BC, with the advent of writing, education became more conscious or self-reflecting, with specialized occupations requiring particular skills and knowledge on how to be a scribe, an astronomer, etc.

Philosophy in ancient Greece led to questions of educational method entering national discourse. In his Republic, Plato describes a system of instruction that he felt would lead to an ideal state. In his Dialogues, Plato describes the Socratic method.

It has been the intent of many educators since then, such as the Roman educator Quintilian, to find specific, interesting ways to encourage students to use their intelligence and to help them to learn.

Medieval educationComenius, in Bohemia, wanted all children to learn. In his The World in Pictures, he gave the first illustrated textbook containing much that children would be familiar with in everyday life, and used it to teach the academic subjects they needed to know. Rabelais described how the student Gargantua learned about the world, and what is in it.

Much later, Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his Emile, presented methodology to teach children the elements of science and more. In it, he famously eschewed books, saying "the world is one's book".

During Napoleonic warfare, the teaching methodology of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi of Switzerland enabled refugee children, of a class believed to be unteachable, to learn and love to learn. He describes this in his account of the educational experiment at Stanz. He felt the key to have children learn is for them to be loved, but his method has been thought "too unclear to be taught today".

19th century - compulsory educationThe Prussian education system was a system of mandatory education dating to the early 19th century. Parts of the Prussian education system have served as models for the education systems in a number of other countries, including Japan and the United States. The Prussian model required classroom management skills to be incorporated into the teaching process.

20th centuryIn the 20th century, the philosopher Eli Siegel posited that the purpose of education is to "like the world through knowing it." Teachers in New York found that student performance improved when this principle was employed in their teaching methods.

Many current teaching philosophies are aimed at fulfilling the precepts of a curriculum based on Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE).

According to Dr. Shaikh Imran, the teaching methodology in education is a new concept in the teaching learning process. New methods involved in the teaching learning process are television, radio, computer, etc.

Other educators believe that the use of technology, while facilitating learning to some degree, is not a substitute for educational method that brings out critical thinking and a desire to learn. Another modern teaching method is inquiry learning and the related inquiry-based science.

"The Interdisciplinary Effect of Hands On Science", a three-year study of Tennessee middle school students, indicated that students who had hands-on science training had higher standardized test scores in science, math and social studies.